The legendary War (prologue)
by storm chaser91
Summary: A young boy by the name of Raize is on his way to realizing his dream of being a pokemon master. He has collected all eight of the required badges and has managed to face the champion of the Kalos region. However, just as his battle with the Champion is about to draw to a close an unprecedented event shocks the entire region.
1. Prologue

THE LEGENDARY WAR

PROLOGUE

With a smile, champion Ava sent out her last pokemon

"Altaria Go!"

With a glint of excitement in her eyes, Ava looked intently at the young trainer before her. It had been years since anyone had pushed her so far in battle that she had to use her last and final pokemon.

"You've fought well young trainer but I'm afraid this is as far as the road goes for you today"

"Quickly Infernape! Power up punch!"

Infernape gave a quick nod to his trainer, Raize, before jumping forward to attack Altaria.

"Escape and counter with fly Altaria"

A white glow started to emanate from Altaria and it started to rise upwards but before it could fully activate it's move, Infernape's power up punch connected solidly with it, knocking it back ten feet back. The power from the blow also caused Altaria to topple from the air.

"Are you ok Altaria?" Ava yelled

In response to her question, Altaria quickly rose up from off the ground and shook itself off. A look of determination in its eyes, it had no intention of losing this match.

"Let's take things up a notch" champion Ava exclaimed as she touched the keystone necklace she wore. As she touched it, the necklace began to glow a brilliant pink colour and in response, the mega stone which Altaria held, obscured beneath the fluff that surrounded it also began to glow.

The light from the mega stone on Altaria's chest began to expand its radius until it completely covered Altaria, blocking it from view from every angle. A few moments later the light dispersed to reveal Altaria in a completely new form, it had mega evolved. The light from Altaria's mega evolution had been so sudden and brilliant that it seemed to have Raizes' Infernape slightly dazed.

"Now, hyper voice"

"Get out of the way!" Raize shouted to Infernape as the sound waves rippled through the air from Altaria, heading straight towards Infernape.

In response, Altaria opened its mouth and released and a scream that echoed throughout the stadium. The dazed Infernape was tried to obey his trainer Raize but was still too out of it to see which way to go that instead of jumping out of the way of Altaria's attack, it ended up jumping into the move. As the attack hit it, Infernape grit its teeth together in a useless effort to attempt to endure the hyper voice but it was too hurt and exhausted from facing Ava's Braviary earlier, that it soon fell to the ground, bruised and exhausted.

"INFERNAPE IS UNABLE TO CONTINUE BATTLE!" the match referee shouted as Raize held up Infernape's pokeball and pointed it at him.

"Come on back buddy" Raize said as a red beam shot out from the ball and enveloped the now fainted Infernape, returning it to the inside of the pokeball.

Raize grit his teeth together as he held up the pokeball of the last remaining pokemon of his party whom was still able to fight, Raichu.

"Let's win this Shocker" Raize said as he threw the pokeball, releasing Raichu onto the field.

Now that it was mega evolved, Ava's Altaria was a dragon/fairy type which gained it two new weaknesses, one of them being steel. His Raichu had iron tail in its arsenal which could be his game changer here but, like his Infernape, Raichu was still exhausted from an earlier fight.

"Let them hear our cry of victory one more time Altaria, hyper voice!"

"Shocker, use dig to get out of the way"

Although the faster of the two, Raichu's exhaustion from recent battles caused it's movements to be slightly sluggish so it barely managed to escape into the ground from the oncoming attack.

With how exhausted Shocker was, Raize needed to get this battle over with quickly, the longer it played out the more likely it was that he would lose the match.

"While we have the element of surprise on our side, use iron tail!" Raize shouted.

Shocker, burst up from the ground to the left of Altaria, a mere five feet away. Sunlight glinted off of it's now chrome coloured tail as it reached the apex of its jump, about ten feet above Altaria. It did a small back flip to position its tail to hit Altaria. The maneuverer also provided a bit more momentum for the attack, increasing the speed and velocity which would subsequently increase the power of the attack.

"Defend yourself Altaria! Cotton guard!"

The cloud like fluff that surrounded Altaria's body expanded to three times its size, cushioning the impact damage from Shockers' iron tail. Shocker made a little spin in the air as the impact from its attack sent it back away from Altaria. As he landed on his feet, Shocker looked back at Raize with a determined look in its eyes as if to say.

_"Don't worry partner, we got this" _

"Shocker, use rain dance"

Shocker began to perform a short little dance jig and the overhead clouds turned from white to grey in response and a light rain began to fall, wetting the surrounding area, the cheering crowd, the two pokemon and their trainers.

"Dragon pulse!" Ava cried

"Evade again with dig" Raize shouted to Shocker

Once again, Shocker narrowly managed to avoid being hit from Altaria's attack by digging underground.

"Watch the ground carefully this time Altaria and use dragon pulse on that Raichu"

"Use thunder now Shocker!"

Shocker burst up from the ground this time to the right of Altaria and started to activate it's attack but Altaria was ready for it this time and used dragon pulse. The blue beam shot from Altaria's mouth and struck Shocker dead centre in its stomach, knocking it back to the edge of the battlefield.

"SHOCKER!" Raize cried as he started to run towards him

"RAICHU IS UN-" the match referee began to say but paused mid-sentence as shocker began to unbelievably push its self back on to its feet.

"That's one tough pokemon you have there" champion Ava exclaimed with admiration.

"Shocker, are you ok? We can forfeit here, its ok"

"Rai!" Shocker cried, shaking it's head at Raize and taking a wobbly step towards Altaria.

"Ok, little buddy, let's win this!"

"Rai!"

"Use thunder"

Three of the storm clouds above the field began to converge together above Altaria and a moment later a bold of golden lightning streamed down from then heading towards Altaria.

"Protect" Ava yelled

A split second before the bolt struck it; a transparent shield speared a foot above Altaria's head, completely absorbing it.

"Don't let up Shocker! Grab on to it and use thunder again!"

Before, either Altaria or Ava could react; Shocker ran towards Altaria and made a huge leap, landing on Altaria's back and used thunder. Altaria tried to shake off Shocker but was unable to before the bolt of lightning struck it solidly.

"One more time, use thunder"

"RAI!" shocker exclaimed as it summoned another bolt of lightning from the sky, striking Altaria head on.

Altaria collapsed onto the ground and Shocker leapt away, panting heavily.

"Come on girl, we're still in this!" Ava shouted as Altaria pushed itself up off the ground.

"Let's put everything we have into this one final move and win this! Dragon pulse!"

Altaria opened its mouth to launch its dragon pulse attack at Shocker but before the move could completely activate, there was a crackle in the air and the entire area was cloaked in a shadow making it too dark to see properly. A few moments later the stadium lights turned on, obliterating the darkness. This however was only momentarily as the lights suddenly exploded shortly after turning on. Raize ran over and picked up Shocker, using his memory of the area as he had seen it when the stadium lights had been on. As if alerted to some unseen danger, the rest of the pokemon that made his team, even though they were still severely weakened and exhausted, burst forth from their poké Ball and surrounded him as if they were guarding him from something.

From the darkness of the sky, a terrifying roar rang out. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed in short burst every few seconds. As the lightning flashed, Raize was able to make out some Y shaped object. The only thing he could make out about the shape was that it was coloured red and white. It also appeared that the roars were coming from this shape. Was this a pokemon? Raize wondered to himself. Suddenly, a beam shot down from the sky and hit the stands where the audience was located. Terrified screams began to ring through the air as the beam grew and expanded whilst moving around the perimeter of the stadium. Raize wasn't sure what was going on but instincts told him that he should run.

"Come on guys!" he shouted to his pokemon as he turned and started to run away from the beam.

He had hardly taken a step, when he felt something strike him hard in the back of his head. The next thing he knew he was falling and he could feel his consciousness slipping away quickly. Before he hit the ground, Raize had completely lost consciousness.


	2. Chapter 1

THE LEGENDARY WAR

CHAPTER 1

Raize groaned inwardly and turned his face into his pillow as he heard a knock on his bedroom door. A few moments later his mom opened the door and walked in.

"Really Raize, it's about time that you got up. You have been acting like a Slaking all week, just loafing around in your night ware all day."

"There's not much else to do mom" he replied as he turned around on his bed to face her, rubbing his face all the while to belie the fact that he had been up for hours already.

"Well that's all about to change for you soon dear." She said as she threw an opened letter on to his bed. "It appears that you have passed the Professor exam and they want you to start your internship three months from now."

"You opened my mail mom? Whatever happened to privacy?"

"If I don't open them, Arceus knows they would never be. That's the third time that they've mailed you, they are waiting on your response."

With a sigh, Raize sat up in his bed and ran his hand through his hair as he looked down at the letter.

"Do try to contain your excitement", his mother said sarcastically. "Haven't you been waiting for this opportunity for a while now? At the young age of fifteen you've just become the world's youngest Pokemon professor!"

"That's probably just because I'm the only one who was there when….when", Raize started to say but broke off as he tried to hold in the tears as he remembered the tragic events of what happened that day three years ago while he was on his journey to being a pokemon master.

Seeing the sad expression on his face, Raizes' mother coughed and changed the subject hurriedly.

"I forgot to mention your girlfriend is downstairs for you."

"Himawari?" he asked shocked, I thought she was away travelling with her dad.

"Yes Himawari, unless you have another girlfriend I don't know about."

Raizes' face turned red at his mothers' retort.

"She's not my girlfriend"

"Sure she's not. Anyways you had better come downstairs and greet her and do at least put on a pair of pants. The both of you are way too young for you to be showing off your boxers to her."

With an embarrassed expression on his face, Raize hurried got a pants and shirt out of his wardrobe and put them on and headed outside. He had barely taken a couple steps outside when he felt something brush against his leg. He looked down and saw it was Kitsune, one of a litre of Vulpix pups they had found a year ago abandoned. His mother had found homes for the other six pups but this little one had refused to leave, even going as far as gripping into Raizes' leather jacket that day with its' teeth to avoid being taken in by the family that his mom had found for it.

"What's up Kit?" Raize asked it as he bent down and scratched under its' chin gently.

"Vul!" it exclaimed happily and made a small jump up on to his hand.

With a sigh, Raize scooped up Kit and it proceeded to snuggle its' self into the crook of his arm and closed its' eyes with a contented expression on its' little face. Proceeding down the stairs, he made his way towards the kitchen where he could smell his mom preparing something on the stove for him to eat. He entered the kitchen to find Himawari sitting at the table with a plate of toast in front of her.

"Yo" he said when she looked up at him.

"Yo? Yo? That's all you have to say to me after not seeing me for months?" Himawari replied with a slight pout.

Raize just shrugged and took up a slice of toast from the plate in front of her and proceeded to eat it.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, "I was eating that"

"Correction, I'm eating" he replied

"You haven't changed much since I've last seen you Raize."

_You have though_, Raize wanted to say to her but he couldn't bring himself to. Her silky dark brown hair had grown longer, now reaching an inch or two past her shoulders, her lips seemed a bit fuller but the most amazing part was her eyes. They seemed to have become a deeper and darker blue. He'd always loved the color of her eyes, sometimes it felt like he was drowning in a magical sea of possibilities when he looked at them.

"Is that a bad thing?" he asked her as he took at the seat at the table, transferring Kitsune from his arm to his lap.

Instead of replying, Himawari just sighed and continued to munch on the toast in front of her. After a few minutes had passed, Raizes' mom decided to break the silence in the room.

"How's your dad Himawari?" She asked as she placed a plate in front of Raize

"He's ok" Himawari answered with a cheerful expression on her face. "He decided to stay for a few extra months in Unova saying he was onto some giant break through discovery. That reminds me, he sent you a present Raize."

"Oh?" Raize replied as he looked up from eating, an eyebrow raised as he looked at Himawari inquisitively.

"Yeah", she replied, blushing because of how intently Raize was staring at her.

She reached into her bag and pulled out a pokeball. She looked at Raizes' mom who nodded at her, giving her the go ahead to release the pokemon from the ball. Pressing the button once to enlarge the pokeball and tapped it again causing it to split open. There was a flash and a pop as a ball of energy leapt out of the pokeball and onto the ground where it materialised into a Timburr.

"Why'd he send me a Timburr?"

"He ran across it during one of his explorations and remembered that you liked fighting types so he caught it for you and- ".

"And what?" Raize asked Himawari

"Well he thought it would be a good fit for you to take with you on a journey around the region again"

Raize scowled and started to say something but Himawari interrupted him.

"Don't be mad at him, it was mostly my idea. I thought it would be good for you to get out of the house and travel instead of moping around all the time. It's been three years already and while I can't imagine the amount of pain you must still be going through but it's unhealthy for you to keep living your life this way and I'm sure they –"

"Don't mention them" Raize said to her quietly as tears formed in the corner of his eyes.

"Raize…..I'm sorry"

"You should give a little thought to how others feel before you open your mouth" Raize said curtly as he suddenly stood up from the table. Startled by his suddenly getting up from his seat, Kitsune hopped off his lap and gave him a look of indignation before walking over to the kitchen window and laying down in the patch of sun streaming through it.

"Raize!" his mother shouted behind him sternly as he walked out of the kitchen. A moment later there was the sound of the front door being opened and closed.

"I am thinking about you though" Himawari muttered under her breath sadly.

Raize had gotten to the entrance of the forest behind their house when it dawned on him how harsh he had been on Himawari. With a sight he leaned back against a tree and thought back on everything he had done over the past three years. He wasn't the same eager little boy he had been when he first set out had on his pokemon journey. Ever since that day when he had challenged the pokemon champion he had become sullen and withdrawn. He had become touchy and snapped at most people when they were just trying to help him. How was a person supposed to react when he had been through what he had been? As a matter of fact, what had he been through? The last thing he could remember about that day was the sky become dark and ominous and this mysterious figure in the sky. He had been knocked unconscious by debris when that figure, whatever it was had started destroying the area. When he had awoken he had found himself inside a hole. From the top of the whole he could see the face of his Infernape staring down at him. He had had a split second to register the strange way Infernape looked before it had crumbled apart into tiny sandy like particles and rained down on him.

At first he had tried calling for help but to no avail as he heard no one reply to his cries. The next thing he had tried was to summon one of his pokemon, but try as much as he did, the balls just bounced and rolled on the ground, none of his pokemon team bounding out of them. It took him a few attempts but he soon managed to jump up and grab a hold of the edge of the hole and pull himself up. What he saw he finally managed to pull himself up out of the hole was something that he could not quite manage to comprehend, even now after all this time he still did not quite understand what happened. The whole world was in the same boat as him, lost as to what had happened on that unfortunate day.

"I'm sorry" a voice said suddenly, interrupting from reminiscing about the past.

Raize opened his eyes and looked to his left and saw Himawari standing there, with her head held down.

"No, I'm the one that should be apologising" Raize replied as he pushed himself up off the tree and faced Himawari.

"You've always been there for me, ever since we were little kids. Always selflessly trying to help me…. I shouldn't have been so harsh with you just now. It's just that….."

"I know, I just thought that this would help you clear your mind. I've seen how badly you've been feeling these past few years and I've been unable to do anything to help you out. I should have realised that going on a trip would have been a really bad idea, especially now that you've gotten accepted to be a professor which puts you one step closer to trying to make sense of what happened three years ago."

"you're right, it has been my hopes for the last couple years to become a professor for that reason but, I didn't pass the exam-"

"But-"

"I know what the letter I got today says but, the only reason they let me in at such a young age and with such horrible results is because, as much as I don't know about what happened. I'm the only one who's experienced it. So I think I'll take you up on that journey, it doesn't matter if I show up tomorrow or a week from now. For some reason I don't believe that any of us will ever learn what really happened that day until whatever was at the heart of it, decides to let us know."

"Are you sure Raize? We don't have to go if you'd rather-"

"I'm sure Himawari, let's go have ourselves an adventure"


	3. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

That night as he slept, Raize was once again visited by his recurring nightmare. Even three years after the fact he was still dreaming about it, every aspect of that day recalled with vivid clarity in his dreams and even some times in his waking thoughts. The feelings, the battles, everything was burned into his mind up until the moment he climbed out of that hole. He would always wake up at that precise point, sitting up in bed, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. However, the dream he was having now was different, instead of ending at the point when he climbed out of the hole, it continued.

It was dark. Everywhere around him was cloaked in darkness so thick that he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. Raize couldn't feel the ground beneath his feet. It was as if he was just floating in midair, helplessly disconnected from reality. Bunching up his leg muscles, he pushed himself forward and to his amazement, he moved, albeit that his movement was slow and clunky but it felt almost as if he were flying. Am I in space? He wondered.

After pondering his predicament for a few moments Raize decided that he should probably try exploring a bit. It didn't seem as if the scenery around him was going to change anytime soon and besides, this was all just a dream wasn't it? It's not as if he could be seriously harmed in here...right? He thought to himself.

Mustering his courage, Raize pushed off again, this time on a more horizontal angle. It was still a bit hard to work his way through the dark abyss but he somehow managed it. At least he thought he was because it was so dark that his mind could not determine whether he was truly moving or not. After what felt like a few minutes he started to hear what sounded like mumbling voices, they were coming from the right. Curiosity awoken, Raize turned to his right and made his way over to the sounds.

"...can't...much lo-"

As he approached the voices started to become clearer. A few moments later and he found himself being confronted by a brilliant white light.

"A human!" He heard a voice gasp in from within the light but who it was or what it wanted; Raize didn't get a chance to find out because at that moment he was awoken from the dream.

For a moment after opening his eyes, Raize felt as if he were still dreaming. A pair of beautiful brown eyes was staring down at him.

"Wha-" he started to say in shock.

"Ah! You're finally awake sleepy head." Himawari said as she held up from leaning over him.

Raize sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"What are you doing here Himawari?"

"I could ask you the same exact thing" she tsked at him.

"Well for starters...it's my bedroom"

Himawari narrowed her eyes at him.

"Thank you for that unnecessary tidbit of information captain obvious. I mean why are you still here, in bed. It's the middle of the day and we're supposed to be leaving on our pokemon journey today."

"Crap!" Raize exclaimed as he stood abruptly as he realized how late he was.

Raize held his hand up to his head as he began to feel a bit dizzy from standing up so suddenly after awakening. He tried to maintain his balance but was unsuccessful and he began to tip over.

"Raize!"

Himawari attempted to catch him before he fell but his weight proved to be too much for her to handle and as a result, both of them toppled over and fell to the ground.

"What in Arceus name is going on in here?" Raizes' mom asked a few moments later as she looked in through the door. She was breathing heavily, a tell-tale sign that she had run up the stairs to his room after hearing the loud noise they had caused from falling.

"I'm usually an advocate from young budding love but I have to say you two are getting bit over your heads here. You're too young to be getting s-"

"MOM, NO! it's not what you're thinking, we just fell over. I wasn't feeling too well and started to fall over and Himawari tried to catch me, that's all".

"I see" his mom replied, the look on her face saying she wasn't too entirely convinced with his explanation.

"If you aren't feeling well then maybe you should post pone you're trip for a while".

"It's ok mom, I'll feel better in a bit"

Raize pushed himself back up on to his feet and offered his hand out to Himawari who took hold of it gingerly and pulled herself up off the ground. Raize held her hand in his for a second longer than simple friends would as he relished in how soft Himawari' hands felt. It had been months since he'd seen her, not counting yesterday, and although he would probably never admit it aloud, he had missed her.

"Thanks" she said as she tugged her hand gently out of his, a slight blush on her face.

Just then, Himawari sister, Pinky, poked her head through the door from behind Raizes' mom.

"Did you manage to wake him up yet?" she asked

Himawari and Pinky were twins. The biggest tell-tale difference between the two of them was the fact that Pinky had this stubborn lock of hair that was a vibrant pink, which had earned her the nickname Pinky. No one had ever found out why or how her hair had a lock of pink in it. It had just grown that way and whether died or cut, it would mysteriously grow back that way within twenty-four hours. Eventually Pinky had gotten tired of trying to get rid of it and now instead wore it proudly as her signature trade mark. She would usually tie her long hair back into a ponytail, always leaving that lock of pink out.

"Somehow I did" Himawari answered her.

"I told you he would wake up if it was you" Pinky said with a sly smile.

Pinky was apparently the other reason for why Himawari was so gun-ho about going on a Pokemon adventure. Pinky had been extremely sick for the last few years which had kept her bed ridden and thus unable to travel around the region. However she was feeling much better now and her doctors had also suggested that it might do her some good to get out and get some fresh air to improve her health. Upon hearing this, Himawari had hatched this plan for the three of them to go journeying together. That had been their plan three years ago but then Pinky had fallen ill and Himawari had delayed her travels for a while as she took care of her sister. She had ushered Raize to go on without them and now that he reflected upon that decision, Raize was glad the two of them had not been with him. He counted it as a small mercy that they had been spared the pain he was now living with. There was even a thought in the back of his mind that what happened to everyone in the stadium that day, with the exception of himself, could have happened to them. Had that happened to the two of them, he wasn't sure that he could have handled it. As it was now, he was barely hanging on to the loss of his team. Raichu (Shocker), Infernape, Gastrodon, Goodra, Sylveon and Chesnaught. All six of them, along with all of the spectators in the stadium, Champion Ava and the big four of the League, along with the entire League building complex, had disappeared without a trace three years ago. No one could figure out, why, how or where they had gone. They were even sure as to how…gone, they were. Did they get transport to some far off place? Or were they….dead? That's what most everyone thought had become of them but so far, no one had had the courage to utter such a word.

"Raize"

Raize looked over at Himawari who had called his name, distracting him from his thoughts of the past.

"You sure you're ok?"

"Yeah I was just…..thinking about stuff."

"Are you guys all packed?" Raizes' mother asked to avoid the awkward silence that was threatening to gather in the room.

"We are" Himawari said as her sister walked over and stood beside her, "knowing Raize thought, he probably hasn't finished packing yet.

"I foresaw this and packed his stuff after he went to bed last night" his mother said with a laugh, cutting Raize off as he attempted to make some excuse as to why he hadn't yet packed.

"Thanks mom" he replied with a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.

It took them a further twenty minutes before everyone was ready to leave the house to start on their journey. Just as Raize was about to step through the door, Kitsune ran up behind him and gave a sharp indignant bark at him.

"You want to come along girl?" Raize asked as he bent down and patted its head.

"Vul!" she replied.

Raize looked up at his mom and she nodded, giving her consent for him to take Kitsune along with him. Raize reached into his back pack and pulled out a pokeball and touched it to Kitsunes' nose, it opened and a beam of light shot out and enveloped Kitsune, when it dispersed, Kitsune wasn't there anymore, the button on the pokeball glowed red for a second and then disappeared with a ping, signifying that Kitsune had been safely secured inside the ball.

Raize stood and pressed the button on the ball, releasing Kitsune once again whom immediately began to rub against his leg. She would always do this whenever she wanted Raize to pick her up. With a smile, Raize picked up Kitsune and looked out towards the horizon.

Well guys, here I go again, a new day, a new journey but I swear I'll never forget you guys or stop trying to find out what really happened to you all.

"Raize, hurry up" Himawari and Pinky called out to him in unison.

He hated when they did that.

"I'm coming!" he shouted after them as he jogged to catch up with them.

As the trio made their way off onto their journey, they were unaware of the figure silently watching them from within the branches of the tree in Raizes' yard.


	4. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

They had only been walking for about three hours when they came upon a clearing in the forest. After a brief look around, Raize suggested that they stop here and make camp.

"Why are we stopping here?" Pinky whined, "We've hardly gone anywhere yet"

"It's going to be dark out long before we make it to the next town so it's better if we camp here now in this clearing than having to sleep in the woods."

"What's wrong with the woods?" Himawari asked him, a puzzled expression upon her face.

"I guess you wouldn't know this since you only just recently got back but, over the past few months the pokemon in the wild have been getting a bit restless and in a few cases some people have been attacked. Last month a guy was attacked by a wild Ursaring three towns over from here, he was able to fend it off with his partner pokemon but not before it left a gash down his right arm that needed several stitches."

"Pokemon attacking people? That's unheard of, are you sure this is real"

"It is but the cases have so far been isolated and the public have been urged to not panic about the situation."

"Well that explains why you looked so on guard while we were walking through the woods" Himawari said.

Raize nooded.

"It is true that the cases have been few and isolated so far but it's also through that pokemon have never been this aggressive towards humans so far and I just can't help but think that this maybe somehow connected to the events of three years ago"

After that, they fell into an awkward silence, with neither of the twins knowing what they should say. Raizes' mood always became a bit unpredictable whenever what had happened on the day he had faced the region champion was brought up.

"Why don't we go pick up some firewood and let Raize put up the tent for us" Himawari said as she placed her bag on the ground and called out her partner pokemon Frogadier. "Don't worry about us, we'll be careful"

Raize sighed and shut his mouth as Himawari cut him off before he protest against the idea.

"You come on out too Froakie" Pinky said as she threw her pokeball out in front of her, releasing Froakie from it.

Before he could say anything more, the two girls linked their arms together and headed back the way they had come from the forest to gather some firewood.

Raize was about half way through putting the tent up when the girls returned with their arms full of dry twigs to make a fire with. After building a fire, Himawari gave Raize a hand with putting up the tent while her sister Pinky was instead playing around with her Froakie. Dinner was a lively affair mostly thanks to Pinky and her excitement at finally being able to go on her own pokemon journey. After dinner and forming plans about where to go in the morning, they all decided to call it a day and turn in. while the twins were seemingly able to fall asleep shortly after they got into their sleeping bags, Raize was still up, unable to fall asleep. He stroked Kitsune, (who had come out of its' pokeball on its own was sleeping on his chest) as he pondered about the weird dream he had had the night before. He was both curious and uneasy about it, although he was constantly reminding himself that it was nothing more than a dream, he still had this under lining feeling that it was more than that.

_What was going? What was that dream? Was it somehow connected to what had happened three years ago?_ He didn't really have any evidence to support that last question besides a gut feeling. He was interrupted from these thoughts as he felt something wet suddenly touch the side of his face. Looking down he saw that it was Kitsune whom had woken up and was licking his face.

Well, Raize thought to himself as he gently lifted Kitsune into his arms and pet her on her head gently, there's not much use thinking on it right now. It was ridiculous for him to think he could figure this out after one weird dream when the Professors and scientist hadn't been able to figure out anything at all about what had happened yet after three years. Putting the dream out of his mind he turned on to his side and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep a few minutes later.

"Everything all packed up? Good then let's set off, we got a bit of distance to cover today before we reach the next town."

"Before we go, I challenge you to a battle!" Pinky exclaimed, pointing at Raize.

"Can't you wait till we get to the next town and challenge someone there to fight? There's a gym there too"

"I know, which is why I'm challenging you, I need to get some sort of battle experience before I attempt to challenge a gym leader and catch some other pokemon too so I have a variety of choices. I have been waiting years for this."

With a sigh, Raize agreed to battle Pinky. Himawari took position as match referee.

"This battle will be one on one, both trainers will battle until their pokemon are either one, unable to continue with the math or two, one of you surrenders."

Pinky took a couple deep breaths to calm her nerves before grabbing Froakies's pokeball and sending him out on to the field. Following suit, Raize sent out Timburr, it was the only logical choice he could make here as Kitsune was a fire type and would be at a serious disadvantage against the water type Froakie. Pulling out his pokedex, Raize pointed it at Timburr.

"Let's see what moves you got boy."

Reading the dex, he saw that Timburr apparently only knew three moves so far. Raize smile to himself as he saw the last known move that Timburr had.

"Are both trainers ready?" Himawari asked.

They both nodded to her.

"Begin"

"Froakie, use pound!"

"Evade it and use leer"

Using the piece of lumber in its' hand, Timburr pole vaulted over the incoming Froakie narrowly missing it's attack. As Froakie turned to look back at Timburr it got caught up in its' gaze. Upon landing on the ground, Timburr had turned around to face the Froakie and per instructions was using its' move leer. Its' eyes had changed to a vivid glowing purple. Upon seeing Timburrs' eyes, Froakie had paused for a moment and then taken a subconscious step backwards.

"Follow it up with pound Timburr"

Timburr once again used its' lumber as a launch pad and jumped into the air , it's right hand glowing white as it dove down towards Froakie,

"Brace yourself!" Pinky cried out.

Froakie, in a hasty effort to defend its' self from Timburrs' attack, crossed its' hands infront of its' self. Timburrs' pound connected. Froakie put everything it had into defending against the pound but was still being pushed back against the force of it.

"Timburr, follow up with thunder punch"

Timburr side stepped and cancelled its' pound attack while shifting it's lumber from one hand to the other. It's free hand began to glow yellow as it raced towards Froakie, whom was trying to frantically keep its' balance after the pressure from Timburrs' pound suddenly disappeared. As a result of this, Froakie was unable to defend its' self against the oncoming thunder punch and was sent flying for a few feet before crash landing onto the ground.

"Are you ok!?" Pinky called out frantically to it.

Froakie tried to push its' self to its' feet but its' legs kept giving out before it could get all the way upright. After the third attempt it just lay there on the ground exhaustedly.

Himawari called the match and announced Raize and Timburr as the winners.

"Just you wait Raize, I'll defeat you next time for sure" Pinky said as she lifted the exhausted Froakie into her arms.

"Sure, sure" Raize nodded to her

Himawari went over to her bag and got a couple of Oran berries out and brought them over to Pinky who fed them to Froakie, giving it back some energy.

After securing Froakie and Timburr back in their respective pokeball, they picked their gear up and once again set off (Kitsune, opted to walk alongside Raize instead of going in the pokeball). Unlike yesterday, there was more silence in the air between them as they continued on the trail. Himawari was walking in front, aimless looking around and Pinky was walking behind him, most likely brooding over a better attack strategy. It was about noon when Himawari came to an abrupt halt.

"what's the matter?" Raize asked, "you tired or something?"

"No but….We're almost to the next town right"

"Yeah"

"Then isn't it strange that we haven't seen any pokemon at all?"

"Now that you mention it…it is strange, we should have definitely run into some by now" Raize said as he looked around the forest to see if he could make out any signs of pokemon hiding or anything.

"You don't this and the recent pokemon attacks could be somehow connected do you?"

"No clue" Raize said as he continued surveying the area"

"There's probably a good reason for whatever is happening with the pokemon in the woods" Himawari said, "we'll probably find that out when we get to the town, we aren't too far from it now"

"Yeah, maybe" Raize replied back as they resumed walking.

As they walked, his mind pondered about this recent development. It could be nothing but these recent pokemon attacks, the weird dream he had the night before and now the disappearance of pokemon from a forest that should be teaming with them. Could all of this have some connection to three years ago? These were all events that weren't a regular occurrence, if they occurred at all. Maybe something was happening in the world and whatever that something was, it would lead him or at least give him some clue as to what had happened to everyone three years ago.


End file.
